JUDAISM Conference focus is science

A panel discussion is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday. YOUNGSTOWN -- The fourth annual Jewish Studies Conference at Youngstown State University has the theme "The Dark Edges of Science." The conference, scheduled for Monday, will explore eugenics (the movement dedicated to improving the human species through the control of hereditary factors in mating), euthanasia, genetic engineering, and weapons of biological destruction. It will be in YSU's DeBartolo Stadium. The conference is sponsored by YSU's Schermer Scholar-in-Residence Program, history department, Judaic/Holocaust Studies, and the Youngstown Zionist District. The conference's roots go back 20 years to an event at Kent State University's Trumbull Branch. A panel discussion at 9:30 a.m. on the ethical implications of scientific research will open the conference. Leading the discussion will be Dr. Dixon Slingerland of Hiram College, Dr. Howard Mettee, a professor of chemistry, and Dr. Brendan Minogue, a professor of philosophy and religious studies, both of YSU. Dr. Steven Selden of the University of Maryland will offer a presentation on the history of the American eugenics movement at 11 a.m. Keynote speaker: The Schermer Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Henry Friedlander, also will serve as the keynote speaker. Friedlander, the scholar-in-residence for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, will speak at 1 p.m. on the origins of genocide in the Nazi medical programs of the 1930s. Friedlander is the author of "The Origins of Nazi Genocide" and a retired professor from Brooklyn College, where he served as a professor of Jewish studies for 30 years. The Janusz Korzak Humanitarian Award and Joseph Hill Award for Jewish Studies also will be presented that day at 12:50 p.m. A buffet luncheon will be served at noon. The cost is $8. For registration information, call YSU's history department at (330) 742-3452.